3D model offers chance to come face to face with Mary Queen of Scots' 'death mask'

A newly published 3D model of Mary Queen of Scots’ offers the chance to come face to face with her “death mask”.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has revealed the digital model to mark the anniversary of her death, 437 after her execution.

Yueqian Wang, Digital Innovation trainee, has created the digital model of the death mask as part of her training at HES, offering the public a new way to view and interact with their collection.

Death masks are a mould taken of an individual’s face after death and have been made by different cultures across the world for thousands of years.

Usually, masks would be created by taking a cast or impression of the deceased’s face which could then be used as a mould to create the final mask, often in wax or plaster.

The mask of Mary Queen of Scots in the HES Collection is a plaster cast taken from her tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey.

The digital model of the mask was created through a process called photogrammetry, where hundreds of overlapping high-resolution photographs are taken around the object and then analysed by software to work out their relative position.

The aligned photographs are then used to create an accurate photorealistic 3D model of the object with detailed editing work needed to ensure colours are true to the object, remove the noise on the mesh model, and apply an accurate texture to the digital rendering.

Yueqian Wang, Digital Innovation trainee, said, “Creating this model was hugely interesting but also challenging because I had to find ways to work round the metallic reflections and shadows captured in the photography, and make sure I was happy at each stage with what the software generated.

“I’ve always been interested in sharing stories from history with a wider audience as well as the practical side of heritage conservation.

“Digital Innovation is a perfect approach to work in both areas – I can share stories of the heritage object with more people by creating digital models, as well as supporting conservation experts by collecting detailed 3D data sets.

“The traineeship has given me the chance to work on fascinating projects, going on site visits across Scotland, seeing historic objects up close and learning how cutting-edge technology can be used in the heritage sector.”

The digital 3D model is available to view on Sketchfab and a video of Yueqian talking about the process to create the model and her wider role is on YouTube.